Page 52 of Could It Be Magic?
‘And I’m desperate to be unwrapped.’ Nick’s voice was little more than a groan. ‘Promise me you won’t leave me hanging for too long…’
‘Oh, God.’ Thea felt as though every inch of her was on alert, and desperate to touch and be touched. ‘How the hell are we going to get through Christmas Day?’
Nick laughed. ‘I’ll be thinking of you every minute.’
Slowly, tantalisingly, they disentangled themselves.
‘I’d better go,’ Nick said. ‘If I don’t leave now, you’ll have to explain why you’ve got a breakfast guest on Christmas morning to the kids.’
Thea pulled back from him. ‘I wish you didn’t have to go, but it’s better we take this one step at a time. The kids have never seen me with anyone else other than their dad. I want to give them the chance to get used to the idea that there might be someone new in our lives. Maybe dinner together sometime after Christmas would be a good start.’
‘I absolutely understand,’ Nick said. ‘I’d love to.’
Thea grinned. ‘Shall we say teatime on the twenty-eighth, then? Unless you’ve got other plans?’
Nick smiled. ‘It’s a date.’
Thea’s head spun as they kissed again. ‘Lovely…’
Nick shook his head. ‘I still can’t quite believe that things are happening between us.’
‘Neither can I,’ Thea agreed. ‘But I like it. I like it a lot. And I like you more than a lot.’
‘Glad to hear it.’ Nick smiled down at her. ‘Now. Take this present and put it under the tree. I hope you like it, too.’
Thea’s face fell. ‘I didn’t buy you anything…’
Nick’s warm hand on her cheek reassured her before he spoke. ‘I don’t want anything else other than you,’ he said. ‘I know that sounds sappy, but it’s true. You’re the best Christmas present anyone could ever have.’
Thea’s eyes filled with tears. No one had ever talked to her like Nick did. He’d always been a good talker, but now, seemingly smitten, he’d developed an eloquence that made her heart soar and ache at the same time.
‘Have a lovely Christmas,’ she said as she walked him back to the door.
‘You too.’ Nick smiled at her. ‘Call me when you’re ready to see me again. I can’t wait to pick this up where we’ve left off.’
Thea smiled back. ‘Neither can I.’
As he walked down the short path to the kerb where his Land Rover was parked, Thea followed him with her eyes. How was it that someone she’d known her whole life could mean something so new, and so different to her now? She had the very real feeling that, if she wasn’t careful, she was going to fall head over heels for Nick. The thought should have scared her, but instead she felt as though something had finally fallen into place in her heart. For the first time in a long time, she, too, was smitten.
46
Nick woke up on Christmas Day with a slight hangover, having had a generous tot of whisky as a night cap when he’d returned from Thea’s, but a feeling of excitement he hadn’t felt in years. And it had nothing to do with the season. Rolling over in bed, he reached for his phone, and his heart gave a little flutter of pleasure when he saw that Thea had already texted him to wish him a merry Christmas. He shouldn’t be surprised; even though her children weren’t toddlers any more, he imagined they’d still be up early on the day itself. He allowed himself the luxury of imagining Thea, Cora and Dylan opening their presents, enjoying a festive breakfast and sharing the day together. He was surprised at how much he wanted to be a part of that scene, and wondered, with a pang of curiosity, how Thea’s former partner, Ed, could have walked out on his family the way he did. Thea’s account of the end of her relationship with Ed had explained a lot, but to Nick the whole thing seemed unfathomable. What could possibly be more important than the family you’d helped to create?
He shook his head slightly. Annabelle was always accusing him of naiveté; he figured that this was just another example of where he ‘just didn’t understand the ways of the wider world’. She was wrong, of course: he did understand. He just believed that people could, and should, be better for those they loved. The best versions of themselves.
Smirking at himself for his own stupid idealism, he texted ‘Merry Christmas’ and a few too many kisses back to Thea before getting out of bed. Soon after that, he decided to walk over to Mistletoe Barn, where Annabelle was already sorting out the preparations for Christmas lunch.
‘Hey sis,’ he said as he ambled through the back door into the kitchen. He’d brought a couple of bottles of champagne with him and clunked them down onto the kitchen counter. ‘Merry Christmas.’
‘You too.’ Annabelle paused briefly from basting the roast potatoes and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. ‘Help yourself to a drink. There’s a bottle open in the fridge if you want champagne.’
‘Can I get you one?’ Nick asked.
‘Just a top up.’ Annabelle gestured to her glass and went back to the potatoes. ‘I don’t want to be drunk and in charge of boiling pans!’
‘Anything I can do to help?’
Annabelle rolled her eyes. ‘Get in there and referee between Mum and Aunty Gladys? Dad’s trying to keep the peace, but you know how they are when they’ve had a couple of glasses of champers. There’s a reason they only see each other at Christmas!’
